Epilogue
RAPH
She lowers onto the sofa and eyes me with a tight face. “There’s no way I’m staying in this tiny cabin with you.”
I snicker, matching the intensity of her gaze. “You are until Michael says it is safe. Until we can extinguish the threat.”
“You mean your father?” She bows a brow.
“That’s right.”
“And how long will that take?”
“Could be weeks. Months.”
“Months?!” She jolts, practically jumping to her feet. “I’m not staying with you for months.”
I take a step forward, a smirk lifting one side of my mouth, while my heart pounds, wanting to erase that adorable expression off her face with my tongue.
She inhales sharply as her lips part, those eyes pinned to mine. I can feel the weight of them on me, like they own me. In the space between us, the intensity grows until it swallows us both.
“And where do you think you’ll be going, little one?”
“Somewhere you’re not.” She tries hard to keep a brave face, but she doesn’t stand a chance with me this close. She feels this just as much as I do.
And that’s trouble.
Her nostrils widen with a breath. Her chest expands. And fuck, that flush in her cheeks when she rakes me down with her gaze has my dick doing what it’s not allowed to do: getting hard.
Her desire for me is practically etched into every move she makes, every look she gives me. Even the ones she pretends are full of hate. It’d be easier if she truly despised me. It’d be easier to let my feelings die. But how can they when she looks at me that way?
It’s a brutal existence to live in a world with someone you can’t have. And sharing a small space with her day in and day out will be a form of cruel torture.
“And one more thing, Raphael,” she adds, rising to her feet, her face grimacing, and I’m enraged all over again from the mere thought of her suffering.
She nears me until we’re almost chest to chest.
“If you want to cohabitate peacefully for however long we’re supposed to be stuck here…” She lifts a hand and digs her forefinger into my chest. “I suggest you stop calling me by that horrifying nickname.”
She sears me with a venomous gaze, and I welcome the burn as long as she looks at me. The sheer thought of her not looking at me at all sends me completely over the edge.
If those eyes are all I get to have, I’ll gladly take them until the day I die. Because with her, the way she brings my heart to life, the way it beats for her… It’s something I’ll never feel with anyone else. I’m forever hers, even when she doesn’t realize it. Even when it’s wrong.
The emeralds of her eyes have my gaze running down the length of her, taking in her small frame hiding beneath that cardigan she’s tucking around herself.
Her long hair curls around both sides of her chest, and staring at her is like staring at a gift you’re excited to unwrap.
“I’m not little, Raphael.” Her voice drops almost to a whisper; I watch her pretty pink mouth move. “If you’d like, I can take off my clothes and show you.”
My dick is really enjoying that damn feisty mouth. It’s heavy and throbbing and wanting her heart-shaped mouth around it. I can’t get the image of her bare for me out of my damn mind.
What would she feel like? Would she beg? Would she spread wide for me and take every inch? I bet she’s tight.
“Fuck,” I mutter, turning away sharply, giving her my back.
“What happened, Raphael?” Her fingertips slide down my shoulder blade, and I clench my jaw from the warmth that immediately glides up my arm. “Afraid to admit you might actually want to fuck me?”
Her touch continues to run up and down, and I slam my eyes shut, attempting to control myself. I’m this close to forgetting why it’d be wrong to rip off her clothes and take her bent over the sofa.
“Fucking Christ, Nicolette…” I sharply pivot and snatch her delicate throat in my palm, curling my fingers deeper.
This is her damn fault.
I grind my molars, my breathing raging out of me as I stare intensely into those eyes I’ve come to love.
My large hand practically engulfs her, and I squeeze a little at a time, giving her just enough room to breathe. I drop my face so close I can taste the wildness of her heaving exhales. I search her widened gaze, her panting growing unsteady as my lips hover right above hers.
“You don’t know what you’re doing, little one.
” My tone is rough, filled with pent-up desire.
“The things I could do to you…” I use the nickname on purpose, loving the lustful rage on her features.
“If I wanted to fuck you, I’d have already done it by now.
And every other bastard who’s been inside you would be instantly forgotten. ”